Daniel Lau (AUS) is now on day 16 of his strike, and Matthieu Balle (FRA), is on day 8.

The walkers mission: to deliver a message to the Copenhagen conference urging action on climate change.

This summer British ocean rower Roz Savage rowed solo 3,000 miles across the Pacific from Hawaii to Kiribati. There she witnessed the human face of climate change – Kiribati, a scattering of small coral atolls, is expected to become uninhabitable within the next 50 years due to the effects of climate change.

She is now taking her message to the climate change conference in Copenhagen, in her role as United Nations “Climate Hero”. With a small
group of friends she will set out on 20th November to walk 250 miles from Big Ben to Brussels, where they will join the United Nations Climate Express train for the remainder of the journey to Copenhagen.

The walk will be the subject of a documentary film, “The Long Walk to Copenhagen”, focusing on the walkers and the people they meet en route
to show how humankind is reacting to the biggest challenge of our time.

The worldwide community will be invited to show solidarity with the walkers by joining an online environmental challenge called Pull Together. This initiative aims to inspire people to take action on CO2 levels by walking more and driving less. Calling upon supporters around the world to Pull Together, Roz will challenge them to match the 10,000 oar strokes she does each day on the ocean by walking 10,000 steps a day. Good for the body, and good for the planet.

Stay tuned for video, audio and photos from the long march to Copenhagen.

World Leaders cut up cheques in Barcelona (Oxfam Int’l)

Barcelona is the last official round of negotiations before a UN deal is signed in Copenhagen at the end of the year.

A widely accepted target for financial aid calls on the countries which created the climate crisis, to provide at least $150 billion per year to help poor countries reduce their emissions and adapt to a changing climate.  Poor countries fear that carbon-emitting countries will try to substitute funds required for Climate Change adaptation as part of the 0.7 per cent of national income already requested/committed to overseas aid.

The European Union announced an agreement to provide up to €100 billion a year to fund climate efforts in developing countries, but failed to commit the EU to any specific sums, delaying their decision until after December’s UN conference in Copenhagen.  In short, the EU is waiting to hear commitments from North America and other countries that will influence their final contribution to poor countries.

Millions of poor people around the world are already struggling to cope with the effects of climate change and delay in negotiating the financing of Climate Change is catching up to carbon emitting nations whose responsibility it will ultimately be to pay the financial cost of mitigation and adaptation to climate change conditions.

See Video from around the world:

Have a gander at the photos from around the world.

http://www.350.org

Explore the impact of climate change on our planet and learn about possible solutions for adaptation and mitigation of climate change as we move toward the UN Climate Conference this December.

On Thursday, the leaders of the world’s largest economies will meet in L’Aquila, Italy, for Major Economies Forum (MEF). Called by U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss progress towards a new global climate agreement, it is hoped the side-meeting of G8 World Leaders, meeting April 8-10 will result in strong concensus among world leaders who account for 80% of global emissions. June 27, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed the “American Clean Energy and Security Act,” a legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The bill came as a hard-won victory for President Obama, who is keen on a leading U.S. role in tackling global warming.

In six months, a deal is supposed to be struck in Copenhagen, so the MEF meeting comes at a vital moment. When many of the G20 leaders met in April to address the economic crisis, they rightly pledged to do “whatever is necessary” to secure a deal for Copenhagen (COP-15)

The new US administration is supporting strong action. China is setting ambitious targets for reducing energy intensity and making massive investments in renewable energy. India has put forward its own action plan. Europe has set a goal of cutting emissions by 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 if there is an ambitious global agreement. Japan has published its proposals for major carbon reductions. Across the world, commitments are forthcoming.

Canada must focus on clear, practical, and achievable goals, with major reductions in order to ensure that, whatever the precise interim target, the world will fashion a radical new approach to economics that embraces Carbon mitigation as a cost of doing business.

Blair says we have the answers

Tony Blair (former prime minister of the United Kingdom) says,

Fully 70 percent of the reductions needed by 2020 can be achieved by investing in three areas: increasing energy efficiency, reducing deforestation and use of lower-carbon energy sources, including nuclear and renewables. Implementing just seven proven policies — renewable energy standards; industry efficiency measures; building codes; vehicle efficiency standards; fuel carbon content standards; appliance standards, and policies for reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation — can deliver these reductions.

Between L’Aquila and Copenhagen, there will undoubtedly be difficult discussions over interim targets for developed countries. While such targets are important, what matters most is agreement on the measures that ultimately will set the world on a new path to a low carbon future.

For years, the emphasis has rightly been on persuading people that there must be sufficient “will” to tackle climate change. But leaders, struggling to cope with this challenge even amidst economic crisis, need to know that there is also “a way.” Only by combining the two will we succeed. Fortunately, such a way exists.

Where will Canada be?

Wednesday’s annual G8 scorecard the WWF blasts Canada for greenhouse-gas emissions that are surging “far above” its obligations under the UN’s Kyoto Protocol, singling Canada as being the worst of the G8 countries in tackling climate change. The report says Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s conservative government had no plan to curb emissions, already among the highest in the world per capita and steadily increasing.

It’s time Canada gets in line with other G8 nations and offers solutions to clear, binding limits on carbon emissions and lives up to the agreements world leaders agree to . Canada agreed under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce CO2 emissions to 6.0 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, its emissions were 26.2 percent higher than in 1990.

UN countries, under the 192-party Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), aim to forge a new agreement in Copenhagen in December that will set targets for emissions curbs and channel help to poor countries beyond 2012.